Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull spoke at a press conference on Tuesday in Darwin and added his voice to the outrage against Eddie McGuire’s violent ‘jokey’ comments for the first time.
Malcolm said ‘there is no place for disrespecting women’, particularly when it comes to people in positions of privilege.
He went on to say:
“You’ve heard me say this before, but it’s worth repeating. Not all disrespecting women ends up in violence against women. But that is where all violence against women begins.
“There is no place for disrespectful language towards women, and that particularly applies to people who are in the public eye, whether they’re leaders like myself or media personalities who have a big megaphone.”
Eddie McGuire came under fire for making a ‘joke’ about drowning sports journalist Caroline Wilson on Triple M radio. He had jibed at her with other men on the show about having a one-person ice water slide just for Caroline Wilson to raise money for the Cure for MND Foundation, and Danny Frawly even joked that he would ‘hold her under’. You can read the full transcript here.
Malcolm has been sick with a heavy cold, so commented a little later than other public figures when the recording of the comments broke on Sunday.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop has dismissed the comments, saying that we should not take offence too easily, but adding that ‘the issue of domestic violence is significant’.
Domestic violence against women is a big topic on the agenda for the election in the second last week of the election campaign, and these comments make the issue all the more topical.
